Touring the Gettysburg Battlefield

We spent two days in Gettysburg, PA. touring the battlefield where during three terrible days in July,1863 the Union and Confederate army fought a bloody battle. What a tragic  war, so many American lives on both sides were lost, but it won the end of slavery and as Lincoln said in his Gettysburg address "these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom".

We purchased a CD driving tour so I was able to go along with mom and dad and see the sights.  I spent lots of time with my head out the window so I wouldn't miss a thing.

After we toured the battlefield mom and dad went to the  museum to watch the movie and see  the fantastic cyclorama. It was a sight and sound show of the spectacular 377 foot painting by a french painter in 1884, housed in a new dome building,  Then they took a bus to visit President Eisenhower's farm, where he spent time recovering from his heart attack in 1955 and where he spent his years with Mamie after his presidency. They had a guided tour of the  entire house, which retained all the original furnishings, offering a glimpse into the simple life and times of Dwight and Mamie.

Adios,
Yuki

Longwood Gardens

I am so excited to be here in the Brandywine Valley where mom grew up. We are in a beautiful campground just north of Kennett Square, PA. It is on the Brandywine River, horse country and lots of green grass and hills.

I was so excited that I just ran and ran - mom said I run like a rabbit.

The first day we went to Longwood Gardens. Mom remembered them when she visited as a child and Dad was totally blown away. He said he thought that Huntington Gardens was great - but Longwood was the best gardens he had ever seen. 

Longwood was built by Pierre S. DuPont in the early 1900's. The tulips were in bloom and it was spectacular.  Here are just a few of our photos of the grounds.

Once we finished the grounds we entered the huge Conservatory,  room after room of gardens and flowers, with the temperature changing from room to room depending on the garden.

After touring the gardens we went to mom's old high school hangout for lunch - the Charcoal Pit - even though everything else on the Concord Pike had changed, this place was still the same!

More later on our trups in the Brandywine Valley.
Adios,
Yuki

Stops in Kentucky and Ohio

Greetings,

From Missouri we drove a long way to Mammoth Caves National Park in Kentucky. I had to get out along the way to smell the Kentucky grass.We were really lucky and got 1 of the only 2 full hook-up sites in the  park campground. 

Mammoth Caves has more than 367 miles of caves and passageways and ranks as the longest known cave in the world. In the old days people used to take a train to get here.

Mom and Dad took a ranger led tour through the caves. Mom said it was an adventure she could have done without - they descended deep into the caves and the passageway got very very narrow and low, she even had to get down and crawl at one point. It was too dark to take any pictures,

After a few days in the park we went to Bardstown, Ky - the bourbon capitol of the world.  On the way we stopped at Lincoln's birthplace

and then got to Bardstown in time for mom and dad to take a tour of one of the local bourbon distillery's.

I had to stay in the car.

Lots of beautiful scenery in Kentucky - we are going to have to come back.

Our next stop was to visit Aunt Joanne and Uncle Bob who live just outside of Cincinnati. We parked our RV in front of their house.

I was on my best behavior so I was able to be in their house for the entire visit. We had a great time together.

 On to Gettysburg!

Adios, Yuki

A great time in Missouri!

HI,
I am way behind in my posting - but we had a great time visiting friends and family in Missouri. Our first stop was in Springfield to visit Mike and Debbie Clarkson. Dad and Mike worked together a long time ago. They went out to dinner and left me and Clarence ( a little guy about my height)  in the house - boy did we have fun chasing each other around.

Then we spent three nights in O'Fallon, MO, just outside of St. Louis to visit the Wooldridge family; Erin, Kelly, and their three kids, Madison (10), Brandan (8), and Hayden (4). We parked our RV in front of their house and the kids had fun coming in to visit me, taking me for walks and letting me join in their games.

 They had two dogs, Chloe and Andre. Chloe was a big white lab he just wanted to play with me, but  I was afraid of him.  Andre is much older than me but a nice little guy.

We spent Easter with Kelly's parents Kathy and Tom's at their beautiful home in the country. I got to join in with the kids for the Easter egg hunt. I thought you were supposed to eat eggs, but some were plastic! Then I joined them fishing in the small lake in their backyard.

The last day they left me in the RV and took the kids to Meramec Caverns

and stopped on the way home for a late lunch at a beautiful winery - and didn't even bring me a bite of it!

We are taking off for Kentucky, I sure will miss the kids!
Adios for now,
Yuki

Fun in Arkansas

We spent 5 nights in Arkansas. The first three were in Little Rock. We stayed in an RV park right on the Arkansas River, right across from the Clinton Presidential Library.  Here I am checking out the view. The library is built right on the side of the river and meant to look like a bridge to the future.Dad got some good night shots.

Nana, if you want to see bigger pics double click on the photo.





Mom and Dad spent a day in the Library while I caught up on my sleep in the car. Being on the road can be quite tiring for a little guy like me. I am used to sleeping much of the day, but when Dad spends the day driving, I am usually awake most of the time, making sure nothing happens or that I don't miss anything. They said they really enjoyed the Library. Their goal is to visit all the Presidential Libraries, we should be able to see 2 more on this trip. Look at mom sitting in the President's chair in the Oval Office.

 The next day we went to Hot Springs, the boyhood home of Bill Clinton as well as the Hot Springs National Park, the very first National Park. It was a different type of National Park, the Park Headquarters was in the beautifully restored Fordyce Bathhouse. We got there just in time for a tour from a ranger wearing a period dress. People used to come from all over  the US to take the baths, often staying for weeks at a time. Before modern medicine, doctors would prescribe baths for all sorts of ailments. Check out the saunas, the old gym and look -  mom's first spinning class!

We spent the next 2 days in the Ozarks - not enough time for this area. It took us a while to get here from Little Rock as the roads were narrow - with lots of curves and small hills. The next day we went to the White River - trout fishing capital of the world. Dad tried his luck fishing while mom and I sat in the shade as the weather is a beautiful 80 degrees. Dad had a few bites and a good time. Beautiful scenery, lakes and rivers galore.

Tomorrow we are off to visit friends and relatives in Springfield, Mo., St Louis, Mo and Cincinnati, Ohio - so it may be a week or so till I get back to you.
Adios,
Yuki